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About This Author
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My Rotten Dog - Spike the Wonder Dog  
The newspaper ad read, "Yorkshire Terrier/Poodle Mix $100." I knew there would be a special puppy amongst them. Mommy Yorkie met us at the door, yapping the yap typical of terriers. She was guarding the only pup left.
The first night, Spike cried and tried mightily to get out of his box. He accomplished getting out a few times, to my surprise. The dog jumped straight up in the air, a feat he perfected over the years. This human mommy had to cuddle him so everyone could sleep.
The next day, he came to life. Spike the Wonder Dog must have decided to enjoy life. He jumped on the window sill to bark at neighbors. They thought it was comical that our itty-bitty puppy was playing guard dog. He didn't have the typical terrier bark, or even a puppy bark. He sounded, already, like a mature male dog guarding his domain.
Spike ran to the bedroom and jumped onto the bed barking at the passersby. He ran to the next room and jumped on my son's bed so as to continue barking and following the people walking by. What a smart 8-week old puppy this guy was!
Throughout his all too short life, Spike surprised us frequently. His bark would have frightened any would-be burglar. Teeth marks decorated our vacuum cleaner where Spike fought with it each time any of his humans tried tidying up. He instructed Daddy Guard Duck, and allowed the duck the privilege of guarding along side him when the trash collectors or UPS delivery persons dared enter our driveway.
But Spike had a softer side. Each day, as I sat on the front porch to greet the day and read God’s word and have my first cup of coffee, Spike sat with me. Squirrels and birds learned that Spike would ignore them during coffee time. The birds swooped down for food, almost taunting Spike, but he stayed at my feet. Squirrels bravely sat on our porch railing eating peanuts. But once coffee time ended, Spike chased those same birds and squirrels.
My tough guy fell madly in love with a beautiful princess. Pebbles was a Shih Tzu and the puppies resulting from that love affair were the cutest bundles of fur. We could have easily sold 25 or 30 of them.
We kept two pups and after they were weaned, Daddy Spike taught them to run and dart around the yard. They were never as fast, nor as agile, and he fairly grinned when they lay exhausted in a heap after a good workout. He taught his pups to jump straight up in the air, and they escaped. They loved running in the orange grove behind our property.
One day, when we asked Spike to find his puppies, he didn’t return with them. He later stumbled into our yard and died from a snake bite. We believe he found his pups trapped by a snake and ordered them home while he tried fighting that snake.
This was a contest entry. The link to the contest no longer works. 
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For the entire story of Spike the Wonder Dog, check this out.
For the story of Daddy Guard Duck...
And we can't forget the cats...
Soon to follow...the story of the squirrels we raised.
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© Copyright 2002 Kenzie (kenzie at Writing.Com).
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